Exhibition title: The Image Left Reality Behind
Part of: AIM – Photography Forum, second edition
Venue: SCÂNTEIA+, Bucharest
Opening: Thursday, September 17, 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Viewing period: September 17–27
Asociația Atelierele Scânteia and Asociația Kontact are launching, this autumn, the second edition of AIM -Photography Forum, a new annual platform dedicated to contemporary photography. The event will take place at SCÂNTEIA+, between September 17 and 27, and offers a program that brings together a group exhibition, a series of public conversations and a mentorship program for emerging artists. The opening will take place this Thursday, September 17, starting at 5:00 PM.
AIM – Photography Forum follows the transformations of the photographic image, from the accelerated digitization of the early 2000s and the emergence of social networks, to the recent development of AI-generated images. The forum aims to create an annual meeting space for artists, curators, visual arts professionals and audiences interested in how images shape our perception of reality today.
The theme of the first edition, The Image Left Reality Behind, explores the impact of these changes on the relationship between image and reality. Although photography was, for a long time, seen as a form of recording presence, as proof that a moment, a place or a body had been in front of the camera, today’s technologies radically complicate this relationship.
Today, an image can be captured, edited, reconstructed or entirely generated by algorithms, without the intervention of a traditional optical system. In this context, the idea formulated by Roland Barthes through the phrase “Ça a été,” the belief that photography confirms the physical existence of a subject in front of the lens, becomes increasingly difficult to sustain. Photography thus moves closer to the logic of painting and drawing: it becomes a territory of constructed, imagined and invented images.
The central exhibition
The AIM – Photography Forum exhibition can be visited at SCÂNTEIA+ between September 17 and 27. The opening is scheduled for September 17.
The selection brings together artists from different generations and contexts, whose practices examine the limits of photography, of representation and of visual reality: Veneta Androva, Dragoș Andriana, Mihai Barabancea, Ion Bârlădeanu, Michele Bressan, Asger Carlsen, Vlad Cojocaru, Marta Djourina, Vladimir Florentin, Andrei Gavriliță, Dani Gherca, Ion Grigorescu, Nicu Ilfoveanu, Natalia Jordanova, Tina Lechner and Teodor Mihai Radu.
The exhibition brings into dialogue important names of Romanian contemporary art, such as Ion Grigorescu and Ion Bârlădeanu, reference artists for contemporary photography, such as Nicu Ilfoveanu, as well as international practices investigating the relationship between image, perception and reality, signed by Asger Carlsen, Tina Lechner, Dragoș Andriana, Veneta Androva, Marta Djourina and Natalia Jourdanova. The intergenerational discourse is completed by the works of young artists, such as Vlad Cojocaru and Teodor Mihai Radu.
Talks Plaza and the mentorship program
Between September 17–27, AIM – Photography Forum will host Talks Plaza, a series of discussion panels with visual arts professionals. All talks will take place at SCÂNTEIA+.
Thursday, September 24
6:00–7:00 PM | Beyond “Ça a été”: The Ontology of the Image in the New Visual Regime: Nicu Ilfoveanu & Puiu Lățea
8:00–9:00 PM | Beyond the Lens: The Algorithms That Replaced the Optical System: Roman Tolici
Friday, September 25
6:00–7:00 PM | The Art Market and the New Status of the Multiplied Image. The Fragility of the Archive?: Erwin Kessler
8:00–9:00 PM | Visual Literacy as a Mechanism of Democratic Self-Defense: Iosif Kiraly
Saturday, September 26
3:00–4:00 PM | Intergenerational Dialogue: From Analog to AI Prompts: Matei Bejenaru & Mihai Grecu
Sunday, September 27
7:00–8:00 PM | The Sociology and Ecology of Looking: Social Networks and Visual Standardization. Image Overpopulation and Aesthetic Pollution: Mihai Fuiorea
The forum is joined by a mentorship program dedicated to 13 local and international emerging artists, developed in partnership with three contemporary art galleries in Bucharest: Mobius Gallery, Suprainfinit Gallery and Galeria Posibilă. The initiative aims to give participants access to dialogue with industry professionals, curatorial feedback and concrete perspectives on developing an artistic practice within the context of the contemporary scene.
The 13 winners of the AIM – Photography Forum open call are Ramona Aristide, Sebastian Antal, Nour Daher, Adina Cojocaru, Lăcră Grozăvescu, Maya Karina Hasan, Elena Kristofor, Zuzanna Kuglas, Ștefan Oprea, Daria Radu, Matei Radu, Cornelia Ștefănescu and Hunor Tóth. Selected following the open call, they will take part in the forum’s mentorship program, benefiting from meetings with contemporary art professionals, curatorial feedback and applied perspectives on developing an artistic practice.
The mentorship will take place over three consecutive weekends: September 26–27, October 2–3 and October 9–10, 2026.
Through this structure, AIM – Photography Forum contributes both to the development of the public’s visual education and to the professionalization of new generations of Romanian artists. More than an event about photography, the forum proposes a necessary reflection on the images we see, share and consider real.
Cultural project co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or for the way the project’s results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.
